"Watch your steps, mom."
"I think I'm not to the point of being unable to walk yet."
Though she said that, Grace didn't pull her hand away, letting Alex hold her as they walked out of the hospital.
The playboy glanced at his mother with a slight grin:
"Hm, you walk like the young woman you are, and I keep worrying about you like the good son I am. The two actions are not mutually exclusive."
Taking her son's antic in stride, Grace glanced at the late afternoon sky, then looked around while commenting:
"If you are so worried, why not help me to the end?"
Alex made his eyes roll in their sockets:
"I've got a bad feeling but, please, pray tell what I can help you with, mom."
Grace calmly ignored the eye-roll:
"Leyna will accompany me home. I need you to go to the group to fetch some files for me. I should have taken care of those this afternoon to prepare for the next week. Now I can only do it from home."
Alex took a breath:
"Mom, why worry about something like that? You should focus on resting for now and waiting for the tests' results. Even without you, the group won't crash down. There are many intelligent people paid just to keep it up and running. If they are enough, just hire a few dozen more, we should have the money for that."
Grace casually replied:
"Maybe you are right, but the group can't be without a leader just like an animal can't be without a head."
Alex exhaled:
"Mom, the problem you raised is not a problem, unless you don't want to solve it. Isn't Uncle Marten always eager to take over the Group? Just let him work himself to the bone. There is also Uncle Sigurd. He may look less restless than his son Kris, but I'm certain he would not refuse should you give him the seat. Why don't you consider him too?"
Grace nodded, not finding the rebuttal unexpected, then her tone took a turn:
"You are right. But if I should choose someone for the job, I would take the will your grandfather left behind into account, and I would not go against it. That leaves only one choice."
Alex smiled without a word and looked in front as if in search of something, or someone. But Grace didn't let him pretend as she turned to glance at him. Her gaze calm like lakes without any ripple, she went on:
"Your grandfather has already chosen you, so you are the most suited to take over my place. You should take your place as the leader of Arland Group."
An insincere smile made its way to Alex's lips:
"Mom, you know, just earlier today I felt a small headache when I tried to think too much. I think that I am still feeling some sequelae from the accident ten years ago. I'm really not the best choice to be the chairman of such a big multinational corporation. Why don't you consider my previous words? There are so many other choices!"
Grace didn't refute. She nodded, and took a step back, but not in the direction her son had been expecting:
"Is that so? Then don't be the chairman, be the interim chairman. I will return to take over after getting better. I just thought that I could retire now, but that doesn't matter. It is just working a few more decades. I should be able to manage, don't worry."
The calm tone pierced through Alex's heart with its dismissiveness. And the last words asking him not to worry felt so empty, and deliberate. It was worse than his own insincere smile, a sharp, unforgiving payback.
He glanced at his mother, then raised his free hand to massage his chest with a helpless, resigned exhale:
"Mom, that is really low of you."
Grace glanced at her son with calm eyes that seemed to be asking: "Is it?"
Alex held her gaze for a while, then sighed, unconvinced but defeated. Some battles were just not supposed to be won.
He let out another sigh as he turned to the black SUV he had been waiting for.
The big car turned and came to a stop before them. Shaking away the shadows clouding his thoughts, Alex looked at Grace with a smile:
"Your ride has arrived. Remember to rest when you get home."
Grace glanced at the dark gleaming vehicle. She didn't comment on the change of vehicle, and apparently of driver too. She turned to Alex to calmly ask:
"So that means you accept to take over the task of leading the Group?"
Alex looked deep into the green eyes of his mother, looked up at the sky, then silenced the big exhale the situation forced out of him. He was taking a beating while being asked to be grateful. Who could empathize with his pain?
Looking at his mother again, he fought back the miserable expression that sought to show itself, and nodded with clear reluctance:
"I promise you, mom. I… will take over the interim."
"Pfft!"
The laughter came from the back soft and muffled, yet painfully clear in the silence between the mother and son. The latter's face twisted for a second, before he pretended not to hear Leyna's reaction at all.
Exhaling, Alex stepped forward to open the door to the backseat of the SUV. He put his helplessness away and leaned in to kiss his mother on the cheek:
"Rest well, mom, and call me if you need anything."
"Hm. This time, come visit me often."
Alex smiled at the veiled complaint. That was all he could do. After Grace sat down, he helped her with her seatbelt, then closed the door. Leyna, who had been holding the bags behind them, came to stand beside him.
Looking at the dark SUV, she could not help but smile:
"You really made Mark the driver of the chairwoman? I thought he was helping you with your ventures."
The term Leyna used made Alex raise his eyebrows, before he casually waved his hand:
"What venture is there to speak of? Just fiddling with some small changes to keep my life of fun going. Nothing that can't survive Mark taking a month or so off."
Leyna didn't insist. Picking up something from Alex's words, it was her turn to raise her eyebrows:
"Ga-yeong?"
Alex nodded with a villainous smile:
"Please have aunt Lee prepare to receive her daughter-in-law. She will have to keep her in line until she has given birth."
Looking at the playboy's expression, Leyna shook her head:
"Is she still being stubborn?"
"Stubborn and restless. I just hope you do not become like her when it will be your turn to get pregnant yourself."
"I would need a husband for that first. See you."
"I will help you get one, don't worry."
As Leyna left with a smile and a wave of her hand to go around the car and get in from the other side, Alex went to knock on the window beside Grace:
"Remember to rest, mom. You can sleep, you can watch movies, you can paint or arrange flowers, you just can't work, okay?"
Grace looked at Alex with a shadow of a smile, then turned to Mark in front:
"That will depend on you. Let's go, Mark."
"Yes, madam."